Nutrition determines how tall you grow
THERE is a chance that your height is a result of genes. But it is more likely that your physical build is a result of your feeding and general wellbeing. Experts explain that while genetics plays a role in determining height, nutrition plays a bigger role in physical development.
By Stephen Ssenkaaba
THERE is a chance that your height is a result of genes. But it is more likely that your physical build is a result of your feeding and general wellbeing. Experts explain that while genetics plays a role in determining height, nutrition plays a bigger role in physical development.
This means that people that feed well and are born and bred in a healthy and conducive atmosphere, are more likely to grow into well built, healthy individuals irrespective of their genetic constitution.
Dr. Hanifa Bachou, a senior nutritionist, says: “As long as one is fed well during the most critical stages of development, one should develop into a healthy person.â€
This revelation comes in the wake of a recent study, Height of Nations, in which Prof. SV Subramanian of the Harvard School of Public Health shows that women born in Africa have over the last 40 years become shorter.
Even though some people attribute shortness to genes, this study links it to declining standards of economic, biological wellbeing and life expectancy in Africa.
The role of good nutrition
According to the health ministry guidelines on infant and young child feeding, “the feeding of infants and young children is crucial in determining the health, nutrition, survival, growth and development of an individual.â€
Good feeding begins before conception, through to pregnancy, lactation and maturity,†says Dr. Elizabeth Madraa, a nutrition expert.
Bachou says the demand for good nutrition is highest during conception and within the first two years after birth. “During this period, the foetus entirely depends on the mother for the much needed nutrients for proper growth, and once the baby is born, it entirely depends on breast milk for the first six months after birth,†she says.
Failure by a mother to meet the nutritional needs of the baby may result in stunting.
Mothers too, have to feed well “for inadequate nutrition not only affects their ability to give birth, but also physical development,†Madraa says.
According to a study on maternal and child nutrition in Sub-Saharan Africa, between 5% and 20% of African women have a low BMI (body mass index) as a result of chronic hunger.
Worrying trends
A situation analysis for nutrition in Uganda (2009) links maternal health and mortality closely to poor nutrition. According to this analysis, 20% of maternal mortality is associated with anaemia, further suggesting that the current levels of anaemia among women of reproductive age will result in over 65,000 maternal deaths between 2006 and 1016.
According to the Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (UDHS) of 2006, 38% of children under five years of age suffer from chronic malnutrition (stunting), 6% suffer from acute malnutrition (wasting) and 16% are underweight.
Madraa says while the acceptable BMI by WHO standard is 18.5; the average BMI for women in East Africa is a mere 12. “This means that such women will give birth to stunted children.â€
These trends, she says, indicate that nutrition needs have not been handled adequately.
Implications on women’s health
“Any woman who is less than 140cm and weighs less than 45kg is considered short/small. Many women in this state face risks during child birth,†says Dr. Asa Ahimbisibwe, an obstetrician gynaecologist at International Hospital Kampala.
Ahimbisibwe explains that small/short mothers are likely to have contracted (very small) pelvic bones, which hinder sufficient passage for the baby during child birth. This can result in the baby getting stuck in the birth canal (obstructed labour),†he says.
Obstructed labour is one of the five major causes of maternal death in Uganda.
In a country where medical facilities and personnel are usually not in sufficient supply, more Ugandan mothers are at risk of suffering prolonged unrelieved obstructed labour which happens when mothers are not urgently attended to.
“This could lead to exhaustion and sometimes rapturing of the uterus, bleeding and eventually the death of both mother and child,†says Ahimbisibwe. “In worse cases, this condition may lead to infection of the birth canal and subsequently obstetric fistula.
Remedies
Madraa says women need to feed well starting from their younger days, ensuring a balanced diet with adequate carbohydrates, proteins and vitamins. She recommends regular check-up during pregnancy and advises mothers to ensure personal hygiene, proper sanitation and immunisation of their children.
Bachou recommends that a mother constantly monitors a child’s growth. “Mothers have to ensure that the child is immunised and also fed with Vitamin A supplements.â€
Parents also need to feed their children on a balanced diet.
THERE is a chance that your height is a result of genes. But it is more likely that your physical build is a result of your feeding and general wellbeing. Experts explain that while genetics plays a role in determining height, nutrition plays a bigger role in physical development.
This means that people that feed well and are born and bred in a healthy and conducive atmosphere, are more likely to grow into well built, healthy individuals irrespective of their genetic constitution.
Dr. Hanifa Bachou, a senior nutritionist, says: “As long as one is fed well during the most critical stages of development, one should develop into a healthy person.â€
This revelation comes in the wake of a recent study, Height of Nations, in which Prof. SV Subramanian of the Harvard School of Public Health shows that women born in Africa have over the last 40 years become shorter.
Even though some people attribute shortness to genes, this study links it to declining standards of economic, biological wellbeing and life expectancy in Africa.
The role of good nutrition
According to the health ministry guidelines on infant and young child feeding, “the feeding of infants and young children is crucial in determining the health, nutrition, survival, growth and development of an individual.â€
Good feeding begins before conception, through to pregnancy, lactation and maturity,†says Dr. Elizabeth Madraa, a nutrition expert.
Bachou says the demand for good nutrition is highest during conception and within the first two years after birth. “During this period, the foetus entirely depends on the mother for the much needed nutrients for proper growth, and once the baby is born, it entirely depends on breast milk for the first six months after birth,†she says.
Failure by a mother to meet the nutritional needs of the baby may result in stunting.
Mothers too, have to feed well “for inadequate nutrition not only affects their ability to give birth, but also physical development,†Madraa says.
According to a study on maternal and child nutrition in Sub-Saharan Africa, between 5% and 20% of African women have a low BMI (body mass index) as a result of chronic hunger.
Worrying trends
A situation analysis for nutrition in Uganda (2009) links maternal health and mortality closely to poor nutrition. According to this analysis, 20% of maternal mortality is associated with anaemia, further suggesting that the current levels of anaemia among women of reproductive age will result in over 65,000 maternal deaths between 2006 and 1016.
According to the Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (UDHS) of 2006, 38% of children under five years of age suffer from chronic malnutrition (stunting), 6% suffer from acute malnutrition (wasting) and 16% are underweight.
Madraa says while the acceptable BMI by WHO standard is 18.5; the average BMI for women in East Africa is a mere 12. “This means that such women will give birth to stunted children.â€
These trends, she says, indicate that nutrition needs have not been handled adequately.
Implications on women’s health
“Any woman who is less than 140cm and weighs less than 45kg is considered short/small. Many women in this state face risks during child birth,†says Dr. Asa Ahimbisibwe, an obstetrician gynaecologist at International Hospital Kampala.
Ahimbisibwe explains that small/short mothers are likely to have contracted (very small) pelvic bones, which hinder sufficient passage for the baby during child birth. This can result in the baby getting stuck in the birth canal (obstructed labour),†he says.
Obstructed labour is one of the five major causes of maternal death in Uganda.
In a country where medical facilities and personnel are usually not in sufficient supply, more Ugandan mothers are at risk of suffering prolonged unrelieved obstructed labour which happens when mothers are not urgently attended to.
“This could lead to exhaustion and sometimes rapturing of the uterus, bleeding and eventually the death of both mother and child,†says Ahimbisibwe. “In worse cases, this condition may lead to infection of the birth canal and subsequently obstetric fistula.
Remedies
Madraa says women need to feed well starting from their younger days, ensuring a balanced diet with adequate carbohydrates, proteins and vitamins. She recommends regular check-up during pregnancy and advises mothers to ensure personal hygiene, proper sanitation and immunisation of their children.
Bachou recommends that a mother constantly monitors a child’s growth. “Mothers have to ensure that the child is immunised and also fed with Vitamin A supplements.â€
Parents also need to feed their children on a balanced diet.